RadioBanter - View Single Post

July 7th 03, 02:22 AM

In article , writes:

Anonymous Sender writes:

...so the economy of these countries will grow with new ham shops.

Bwahahahaha! So there are enough people clamoring to become hams, but
who refuse to learn CW, that they'll make a noticeable impact on their
country's GDP when the code requirement is dropped? Thanks for a great
laugh.

It gets even funnier when you consider what has happened in Japan, which has
long had a nocodetest QRP HF amateur license. Since 1995 the number of JA
amateur stations has been dropping, along with JARL membership. JARL is now
smaller than ARRL. If the trend of the past 8 years continues, soon there will
be fewer Japanese amateur stations than there are US hams.

All this even though Japan is the home of Yeasu, Kenwood and Icom. Go figure.

Perharps a new generation of low cost HF transceivers (CB like) will
appear on the market...

Remains to be seen. I'll be glad if it does.

What does "CB like" mean?

Currently, there is a wide selection of amateur HF/MF transceivers available
new for less than $1000. Lots of good used equipment as well for even less
money. Plus kits. As we head into a declining sunspot cycle, the need for
multiband capability increases.

A prediction: We won't see significant changes in the equipment offered for
sale to radio amateurs because of changes in code test requirements.